The power of identification

One major difference between online and in-store retail is the difficulty of identifying customers who walk into a store. While online retailers are able to track their clients' moves, including their browsing histories and what they put in their carts but never purchased, in the brick-and-mortar environment many customers remain completely anonymous until they check out. This means that retailers are losing out on extremely important data about what each individual customer's interests and who came into the store but left without making a purchase.

Loyalty programs are often used as a way to identify customers and accessing data about them, including store and online history. However, this interaction is often left until the end of the shopping experience, when a customer goes to check out. As such, retailers can miss out on an opportunity to help customers throughout their shopping journeys, including those who walk out without making a purchase.

Imagine this situation—a customer walks into a fashion retailer looking for a dress she saw online earlier that day and which she is interested in purchasing to wear that evening. With no sales associates offering to help, the customer looks for that particular dress but when she doesn't find it leaves to try her luck at other retailers. She walks into a second store and is greeted by a sales associate who asks whether she would like to identify herself. The customer shares her information and the associate immediately brings up her details on a tablet. She asks the customer whether she's looking for the same dress she was looking at online earlier in the day, and then helps the shopper find it. While the customer is trying on the dress, the associate brings out a pair of shoes that the customer had been looking at earlier in the week and which are now on sale.

Does this sound like science fiction? It's not and some retailers are already leveraging technology to make this experience a reality.Obviously, not all Wholesale Cheap Cheap Strapless Sweetheart Mermaid Elegant Lace Applique Wedding Dresses are created equal - well, not equally for all occasions anyway. Mitchell-Keller uses the example of Burberry which is equipping associates with a mobile application that identifies customers by their name and other basic details like a zip code. The device then accesses their purchase histories, and makes recommendations based on that information.Every girl needs a Discount White satin sweatheart Beaded Applique a-line wedding dresses party dress at various times in her life, whether for a prom, a gala ball or a red-carpet event. "If a customer recently purchased a dress, the associate can recommend a shawl to allow the customer to continue wearing that outfit during the fall," Mitchell-Keller notes.

Yet, while most customers are conscious that self-identification can help them get a more tailored experience,Step into the limelight in party dresses and Discount White tulle sweatheart Beaded Cocktail/prom dresses with sequins, they don't always take the initiative to do so. Many times, they're waiting for sales associates to approach them and other times they want to spend some time browsing without interruption.